Skip to Content

Content Audit

A content audit is a systematic review of all your website’s content to assess its performance and identify areas for improvement. It’s like a checkup for your website content, helping you ensure it’s fresh, relevant, and drives results for your business.

Over time, content can become outdated or irrelevant and that’s where a content audit comes in. Read on to discover what a content audit is, how it works, and the many benefits it can bring to your website. By taking the time to assess your existing content, you can unlock its full potential and ensure it’s working hard to achieve your business goals.

The Content Audit Process

Here’s a breakdown of the key steps involved in conducting a content audit.

  • Step 1: Content Inventory: This is where you gather all your website’s content, like blog posts, landing pages, product descriptions, and anything else visitors might see. Essentially, you’re creating a complete list of your content assets.
  • Step 2: Data Analysis: Data is your friend in a content audit! Here, you’ll analyze metrics like website traffic, bounce rates, and conversions to understand how your content is performing. This data will help you identify areas that are thriving and areas that need improvement.
  • Step 3: Content Evaluation: Once you have an inventory and some data insights, it’s time to assess the quality and relevance of your content. Is it up-to-date with current industry trends? Does it speak directly to your target audience’s needs? This evaluation will help you determine which content needs a refresh or might be better off archived.
  • Step 4: Action Plan Creation: Based on your findings, you’ll create a clear action plan. This might involve updating existing content, creating new content to fill gaps, or even removing outdated pieces that no longer serve your audience.

Key Benefits of a Content Audit

A content audit is like giving a performance review and training session, all rolled into one. Here’s how a conducting a regular content audit can benefit your website:

  • Improved SEO: Search engines love fresh, relevant content. A content audit helps you identify SEO opportunities, such as optimizing keywords and targeting content gaps. This can lead to higher search rankings and attract more qualified traffic to your website.
  • Increased Engagement: Outdated or irrelevant content can turn visitors away. A content audit ensures your content is engaging and speaks directly to your audience’s needs. This can lead to longer visit times, lower bounce rates, and a more positive user experience.
  • Content Strategy Refinement: A content audit doesn’t just assess existing content; it also helps you refine your content strategy moving forward. By understanding what content performs well and what falls short, you can create a more targeted strategy that delivers better results.
  • Measurable Results: Content marketing is all about achieving results. A content audit helps you track the effectiveness of your content efforts. By identifying what’s working and what’s not, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your content ROI (return on investment).

Free Tools to Help With Content Auditing

While there are paid content audit tools available, you can get a lot done with free options. Here’s a couple of popular options from Google to help with your content audit process.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool from Google that provides valuable insights for content audits, even though it’s not specifically designed for that purpose. Here’s how GSC can be a helpful asset:

  • Indexing and Coverage: GSC allows you to check if all your important webpages are indexed by Google and identify any indexing issues that might prevent your content from appearing in search results. This helps ensure your content has the opportunity to perform well.
  • Performance and User Experience: GSC provides data on how your content performs in search results, including clicks, impressions, and average ranking positions for specific keywords. You can identify underperforming content or pages with low click-through rates (CTRs) that might need improvement.
  • Internal Linking: GSC shows you which pages on your website link to others. This can help identify content silos or pages that lack strong internal linking, which can affect how well search engines crawl and understand your website.
  • Mobile Usability: A mobile-friendly website is crucial for SEO and user experience. GSC can highlight any mobile usability issues on your webpages that might be hindering user engagement.

By using GSC alongside your content audit process, you can gain valuable insights into how search engines view your content and how users are interacting with it. This information can help you prioritize content updates, identify opportunities for optimization, and ensure your content is well-positioned for success in search results.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics (GA) is a powerful tool that can be a goldmine of data for your content audit. Here’s how GA can help you assess your website content and identify areas for improvement:

  • Traffic and Engagement Metrics: GA provides insights into how visitors interact with your content. You can see which pages have high traffic, low bounce rates, and longer average session times, indicating engaging content. Conversely, pages with low traffic or high bounce rates might need revision or removal.
  • Content Performance by Topic/Category: If you categorize your content by topic or theme, GA allows you to analyze performance for those categories. This can help identify content areas attracting high engagement or those that might be underperforming.
  • Goal Tracking: Did you set specific goals for your content, like lead generation or product purchases? GA’s goal tracking feature can show you which content pieces are most effective at driving those conversions. This helps prioritize content that aligns with your overall business objectives.
  • Audience Insights: GA provides demographic information about your website visitors. Understanding who’s consuming your content can help determine if it’s reaching the right target audience and tailor future content accordingly.
  • User Behavior Analysis: GA allows you to see how visitors navigate your website, what pages they visit after viewing a specific piece of content, and where they exit. This can reveal areas where user experience can be improved or identify content that might be better placed elsewhere on your website.

By leveraging the data available in GA, you can gain a deeper understanding of how your content performs with real users. This data-driven approach can inform your content audit decisions, helping you identify content that resonates with your audience, optimize existing pieces for better engagement, and create future content that’s more likely to achieve your goals.

Do-It-Yourself or Seek Help? Who Should Conduct Your Content Audit?

Taking on a content audit can be a rewarding experience, but it’s also important to be realistic about your resources and expertise. Here’s a breakdown of the options to consider:

  • Internal Team: If you’re already using MarketMuse, that may be all you need. It helps with content audits by automating analysis, identifying gaps in your content strategy compared to competitors, and suggesting improvements for existing content. It acts like a data-driven assistant to make the audit process faster and more effective.
  • External Agency: Hiring an external content marketing agency can offer a fresh perspective. This can be particularly beneficial for complex audits or if your internal team is stretched thin.

Ultimately, the decision depends on your specific needs and budget.

Related Terms

  • Content Inventory
  • Content Gaps
  • Content Operations

Learn More About Content Audits